Introductions
by Joker'sOnlyFear
Summary: Instead of the Cullens, it's five members of the Batman's Rogues Gallery that Jessica introduces to Bella in the lunchroom on her first day of school at Forks High. Implied J.Crane/Joker slash.


_Author's Note: This is my first and probably only crossover. This is based off of both the book and movie versions of Stephenie Meyer's _Twilight_. The italicized part of the first sentence is taken directly from the novel. Unfortunately for my vets, Harley isn't in this one. As to why some other Batman villains weren't in there either: even though this is the world of _vampires _we're_ _talking about here, I generally try to stay in the "real world" with the villains - with the occasional exception (this is not one of them). I tried my best to stay in-character - please let me know how I did on that. The villains' meeting place is different from the one I normally use, to go along with the storyline. Yes, I know the excuse for why they can hold their conferences in Forks High is lame, but I couldn't think of anything else. Switched Gotham to neighboring Forks for convenience - _and_ just because I can._

_It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers,_ that I watched the first of them walk into the cafeteria.

She was tall, lean - as sleek as the form-fitting purple jumpsuit she wore, sporting matching knee-high boots with six-inch stiletto heels. A light head-cowl with catlike ears and a long whip-like tail - extending from the base of her spine - that swished to the rhythm of her slightly strutting walk gave her outfit a very feline appearance. A lengthy coil of rope hung from the utility belt buckled around her narrow waist. Tinted aviation goggles prevented me from seeing her eyes - although I felt somehow that they would be a blazing shade of green - but the lower half of her thin face was yet visible, her dark red lipstick standing out almost harshly from her pale skin. She tilted her chin daintily away from me, turning up her nose as she passed us by.

"Who is _she?_" I asked.

The dark-eyed brunette sitting beside me - whom I remembered to have introduced herself as Jessica - followed my gaze. "Oh, that's Selina Kyle. She calls herself _Catwoman_ - which should be obvious. I mean, look at what she's _wearing_." Jessica managed to sound both disdainful and jealous at the same time.

"She's one of _them_," said the mousey, spectacled girl sitting across from me - Jessica had introduced her to me as Angela.

"They're _aliens?_" I honestly don't know where that response came from. In the movies - especially the older black-and-white films - that was always the case in the identity of the person that you said was "one of _them_."

Both girls giggled.

"Try _wanted criminals_," Angela said gently.

"They're big-time enemies of this freaky vigilante-guy over in Gotham City, called the _Batman_," Jessica added. "They come here to hold meetings and stuff. As a matter of fact, Catwoman's a professional thief."

"Wait - _criminals?_" The shock in my voice was clearly evident. "How could they let criminals into a _school?_"

"That's just the thing," Jessica continued. "They had to promise the administration board that they wouldn't harm any of the students. _And_ they bribed the board members."

"In _cash_," Angela supplied.

"Oh, look - here come the guys." Jessica again. "They'll all be wearing suits - they always are. I don't think they even change their clothes." Her petite nose wrinkled in disgust.

The first man was indeed wearing a suit; its black-and-white coloration and style looked like something straight out of a Jane Austen novel, complete with a top hat, monocle, and white-tipped cane. Coupled with his large, beak-like nose and portly, egg-shaped appearance, he looked just like a -

"That's Oswald Cobblepot, otherwise known as the _Penguin_," said Jessica. "He's _extremely_ rich, of course - the amount of money that I heard he donated to the school for the bribe is _ridiculous_."

Cobblepot nodded courteously to us as he passed.

The second man was thin, with blond hair and blue eyes - but it was his face that caused me to gasp in astonishment and horror. The right half of his visage was normal in appearance, unblemished - while on the left half, all the skin and part of the muscle had been stripped away, leaving the remaining charred flesh and bone open to the air. Inside the large socket, his left eye twitched involuntarily.

"That's Harvey Dent, newly renamed _Two-Face_. He was burnt in a horrible fire."

"How do you know all this?" I wondered.

"Forks is like a suburb of Gotham City, and my parents get the _Gotham Times_ instead of our local paper," Jessica explained.

The bulging eye in the wounded half of Dent's face glared at me as he made his way to the others, who were now seated at a table near the back of the lunchroom.

The last two men entered together.

The first wore a gaudy purple suit, his scraggly hair dyed a putrid green in an untidy manner so that dirty-blond roots showed through. White makeup was smeared unevenly across his face, while red lipstick was slashed over the smile-scars stretching to either side of his mouth. From beneath their charcoal-blackened depths, dead brown eyes stared through me before roaming over the students in a languid yet threatening manner.

The second man wore a black suit with a dark green sweater vest, and was slightly shorter than his partner. Though he seemed skeletal in frame, he was still normal-looking, with brown hair and ivory skin. If not for the strong angle of his jaw, he could almost be considered to have a feminine face, with high cheekbones and finely-shaped lips. Crystalline blue eyes gazed up at nothing from beneath long black lashes. He seemed to shrink into the taller man as they moved farther into the room.

Jessica nodded in their direction, her voice pitched low. "See that creepo in the purple suit? He calls himself _the Joker_ - no one knows who he really is. _Blue eyes_ over there is Jonathan Crane, or _Scarecrow_. They're, like, the leaders. And they're _together_ - like, _together_ together."

The Joker took Crane's hand as Jessica said this, shock and disgust coloring her voice.

"_Jess_, there are many perfectly nice homosexual men in the world," Angela reprimanded gently.

"Yeah, I know - but it's _weird_. I mean, I'm not even sure that's _legal_."

Crane glanced curiously at me for a moment, dropping his gaze to the floor as they passed.

I guess you'll never really know who you'll meet in Forks.

END

_For my new readers, Joker and Crane aren't normally so open about their relationship - only Harley knows, and even _they_ don't know that she knows (as of part four of my _Harlequin_ series). I personally think my writing _sucks_ in first-person - and trying to imitate another author's writing style _really_ doesn't help. I really could have put this into more detail, but I think I struggled a bit because of the style change - and because sometimes I'm just too damn lazy (hahaha). Again, please review._


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